In the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, everyone was ignoring the truth while one little boy dared to point out the obvious. I was reminded of this story recently. Potential presidential candidates are seeking to distinguish themselves from the crowd of contenders. I don’t follow politics much, but when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke up about the need for …

There are women in their 90s who dance, play sports, and laugh a lot. There are also women in their 50s who complain about constant pain and can barely make it down a few steps on their own. The number signifying your age doesn’t determine what your life should be like. It shouldn’t define or constrain what you can do. That …

There is an overabundance of ads on TV telling us that we need this pill or that. Some try to convince us that what was once a normal occurrence is now considered a disease. Some promise to restore function assumed to be lost with age. But do we really need all these medications? Though I don’t buy into the notion that …

What were you thinking about before you came to this page? What was on your mind? Thoughts running over and over again like a broken record almost without your awareness. It’s something you want to pay attention to, because your thoughts shape your reality. The thoughts that dominate your mind—more than anything around you—color the experiences you have. Science has repeatedly …

In my graduate studies, I reviewed a number of studies and articles on successful aging in the literature. Some of it was based on theory. Some sought input directly from people over 50 to see how they defined the concept for themselves. Think about what if means to age successfully. How would you describe it? In a recent study published in …

I’m forever reading books when I’m supposed to be working on finishing mine. But I ran across a new one by Dr. Christiane Northrup that has a message similar to the one I am sharing in my next book. In the introduction to Goddesses Never Age she reminds us that age is just a number. People in their 30s can act …

Sometimes we get concerned about our memory not being as sharp as it used to be. Maybe it’s a person’s name that we can’t recall. Or an errand we intended to run that slipped our mind. We’ve heard that people lose their memory with age and worry about it happening to us. Well I’m here to tell you that your memory …

I’ve seen a lot of movies that feature mature characters. (It’s kind of a hobby of mine now.) Some were funny. Some were insulting. And a few of them were a pleasant surprise, like the one that popped up on my Netflix queue last night. It was the 2014 remake of “Elsa and Fred” starring Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. This …

I want to know all I can about aging well. After all, if I’m going to get older, I may as well do it in the best possible way. To that end, I’ve been studying how to age successfully. For my dissertation research, I interviewed women in their 60s who were part of New Thought spirituality. New Thought includes such groups …

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve made greeting cards. At first they were crafted from crayons and construction paper, and later I made pen-and-ink drawings. Lately, I’ve been using PhotoShop and InDesign software and print them from my computer. The cards go out to friends and family on birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day. This year’s valentine got a reaction. …